India, April 11 -- The term pan-India may be a recent invention to describe films with national appeal, but these films have existed before the term was coined. While many such films worked at the box office, a few crash-landed too. Among those was a 1991 film that had three of the biggest stars of the era, was made in four languages, and bombed so badly that the maker was left bankrupt.

In 1988, Kannada actor and filmmaker V. Ravichandran embarked on an ambitious mission - to make a film for all languages and audiences. Titled Shanti Kranti, the film was simultaneously made in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. Ravichandran wrote, produced, and directed the film himself. The Kannada version starred him in the lead, while the Telugu vers...